Most social science research on agricultural development in the past few decades emphasizes that agricultural innovations (technological, social and financial) end up reinforcing existing socio-economic hierarchies in that better resourced, typically men and people from socially privileged groups, are able to reap more of the benefits while less resourced farmers, such as women and people from less privileged groups, are marginalized further, even harmed, by new technologies. We conducted a study in three agricultural communities in rural Rajasthan to gain a more nuanced understanding of how agricultural innovations affect different socio-economic groups. In particular, we are interested in changes that might have occurred due to barley innovations, both new varieties and new marketing and lending mechanisms.

The CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Cereals (Dryland Cereals) is a partnership between two members of the CGIAR Consortium – ICRISAT (lead center), and ICARDA, along with a number of public and private institutes and organizations, governments, and farmers globally.